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Atlanta, November 3, 2025: Texas once again has earned the title of Top Business Climate in the United States. Home to the world’s eighth-largest economy, the Lone Star State heads the list of top 25 state business climates published in the November 2025 issue of Site Selection magazine, narrowly defeating perennial challenger North Carolina by one point.
Third place goes to Georgia, followed by Virginia and Florida. The findings are based on a 14-metric index that includes a survey of corporate real estate executives and site selectors; criteria derived from corporate facility investment data in the Conway Projects Database; and a number of external sources touching on such business climate factors as taxation, infrastructure, tech employment and startup ecosystems. Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Arizona and Colorado round out the top 10.
In final rank order, the most pronounced year-over-year upward movers in the top 25 were Colorado (No. 14 to No. 10), Pennsylvania (No. 18 to No. 11) and Utah (No. 19 to No. 16). Meanwhile, new arrivals to the top 25 from outside last year’s rankings include No. 21 Massachusetts (tied for No. 27 last year) and No. 25 Nebraska, up from No. 32 one year ago. The executive survey portion of this year’s rankings found Texas No. 1, followed by Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. (See charts below and online.)
Asked which criteria matter most to site selection, corporate and site consultant respondents once again stated that availability, cost and reliability of utilities was No. 1. Next came ease of permitting and regulatory procedures (up from No. 2 last year), transportation infrastructure (up from No. 5), workforce skills (down two notches) and quality of life (up from No. 7).
Why does Texas keep coming out on top in so many rankings? Because, writes Editor Emeritus Mark Arend, “from the governor’s office in Austin to economic development offices in communities large and small across the Lone Star State, those charged with marketing Texas know they have an easy sell — no corporate tax, sensible business regulations, business-dedicated courts, unbeatable logistics infrastructure and a huge labor force, among other factors. Their challenge is to keep it that way,” a challenge addressed by Governor Greg Abbott in an exclusive conversation with Arend.
Ports & FTZs, Opportunity Zones, Incentives, FDI in America, Ohio River Corridor & More
The November 2025 issue also includes coverage of international ports (many of them affiliated with special economic zones) from the Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) produced by World Bank in collaboration with the Global Intelligence & Analytics division of S&P Global Market Intelligence, and global maritime centers from the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index (ISCDI) Report. A tardy report to Congress from the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board made tardier by the federal government shutdown prevented Site Selection from performing its annual rankings of U.S. FTZs and states by FTZ activity.
By special invitation, Kenan Fikri, senior fellow at Economic Innovation Group (the firm that championed the original concept of Opportunity Zones), contributes up-to-date analysis of what permanent Opportunity Zones enshrined in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act mean for corporate investors. Timothy Bartik, senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, explores how smart local economic development policy can gain support from the Abundance movement. Meanwhile, Managing Editor Kelly Barraza talks to a number of experts about trends in foreign direct investment in America in an atmosphere fraught with tariff, immigration and other tensions.
The November 2025 issue also includes our annual look at top Ohio River Corridor metros for project wins over the preceding 18 months, evaluating their capex and job creation numbers on a cumulative and per-capita basis. The multistate region of Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky-Indiana, was No. 1 for the third straight year, followed by Weirton-Steubenville, West Virginia-Ohio, at No. 2 and Cincinnati, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana, at No. 3.
Other topics explored in the 220-page November issue include EVP Ron Starner’s latest report on data center projects (and pushback) and his exclusive profile of legendary real estate developer Stephen Ross; Associate Editor Alexis Elmore’s close look at Hyundai’s global strategy and EV trends; exclusive insights on India and other Asian markets in two contributions from Tractus; the Washington, D.C., Investment Guide and the Greater Phoenix Intelligence Report, in addition to numerous state and regional spotlights, industry reports and Site Selection Investment Profiles of San Bernardino, California; Oklahoma; Winfield, Kansas; and the Port of Brownsville, Texas.
Site Selection magazine, the leading publication covering global corporate real estate strategy and economic development, is in its 72nd year of publication, and goes to a qualified circulation of more than 41,000* corporate end users, in addition to publishing all of its material at siteselection.com. Global corporate expansion experts Conway Data Inc. — publisher of Site Selection, state economic development guides under its Custom Content Publishing Division, and the Site Selection Investor Watch, Project Bulletin and Snapshot newsletters, has been a trusted source of business intelligence to corporations, government economic development and investment promotion around the world since 1954. Conway Data also manages the Atlanta-based Industrial Asset Management Council, a professional association of corporate real estate executives, economic developers and commercial real estate service providers.
*June 2025, Alliance for Audited Media; all circulation information is publisher’s own data unless otherwise specified.
TOP 10 STATE BUSINESS CLIMATES 2025
(2024 rank in parentheses)
| 1. |
Texas (1) |
| 2. |
North Carolina (3) |
| 3. |
Georgia (2) |
| 4. |
Virginia (4) |
| 5. |
Florida (5) |
| 6. |
Ohio (6) |
| 7. |
Illinois (9) |
| T8. |
Indiana (8) |
| T8. |
Arizona (7) |
| 10. |
Colorado (14) |
The Business Climate Rankings are based on the following criteria: a survey of corporate site selectors who are asked to rank the states based on their recent experience of locating facilities in them; total qualifying projects in 2024 cumulative and per capita, Conway Data Projects Database; total projects 2025 YTD cumulative and per capita; 2025 Tax Foundation state business tax climate data; Inc. 5000 firms cumulative and per capita; performance in the Rankings that Matter in Site Selection’s State of the States report, Jan. 2025; CNBC America’s Top States for Business 2025; Cyberstates 2025 tech employment and % of overall employment (CompTIA); bipartisan infrastructure bill projects/funding as of Sept. 2025 (GSA).
EXECUTIVE SURVEY BUSINESS CLIMATE RANKINGS 2025
(2023 rank in parentheses)
| 1. |
Texas (1) |
| 2. |
Georgia (5) |
| 3. |
North Carolina (2) |
| 4. |
South Carolina (5) |
| 5. |
Florida (7) |
| 6. |
Tennessee (3) |
| 7. |
Ohio (10) |
| 8. |
Alabama (9) |
| T9. |
Arizona (8) |
| T9. |
Indiana (NA) |
| T9. |
Virginia (4) |
SITE SELECTORS’ TOP LOCATION CRITERIA FOR 2025
(2024 rank in parentheses)
| 1. |
Utilities (availability, cost, reliability) (1) |
| T2. |
Ease of permitting and regulatory procedures (4) |
| T2. |
Transportation Infrastructure (5) |
| 4. |
Workforce Skills (2) |
| 5. |
Quality of Life (7) |
| T6. |
Land/building prices and supply (3) |
| T6. |
State and local tax scheme (8) |
| 8. |
Workforce Development (6) |
| 8. |
State and local tax scheme (8) |
| 9. |
Higher Education Resources (10) |
| T10. |
Economic Development Strategy (9) |
| T10. |
Incentives (NA) |
Source: Site Selection survey of corporate site selectors, September 2025
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